Beauty Hurts
by giraffesplaycello
Summary: Aphrodite is known as shallow. Since she is the goddess of love and beauty, everyone expects that those are the only things she cares about. But what if it's only a cover? What if she tries to be smarter, because of Athena's taunts? Aphrodite admits it. Beauty hurts.
1. I'm Not What You Think

_**Hey, guys! This is the story of Aphrodite's troubles as the goddess of Love and Beauty. She's not shallow, in fact, she goes deeper than you could imagine.**_

 _ **I might not update very often, since I am also writing two other fanfictions, "But What About Annabeth?" and "The Tardis Effect."**_

 _ **Thank you so much to my beta, riptidedauntlessgryffindor, who got me introduced to fanfiction, and is an amazing friend. I seriously recommend checking her out.**_

 _ **Without further ado, Beauty Hurts!**_

 _ **Aphrodite's Pov:**_

I squinted at the magazine article. Athena always made fun of me for not trying enough in education. Little did she know, I spent many of my days trying to get a good education. I was fine at reading, though I was very slow. I read two articles from the magazine before stumbling. But I was getting better. I decided to read out loud to myself, as that is what helped me the most.

" _One day Kiera Inway decided she wanted to do something with her life. She began her add- apd-"_

I couldn't do it! The goddess of love and beauty couldn't read a magazine because she had the same weakness as the demigods. Yeah. I had dyslexia. I looked around my room, searching

Most people, if asked what they thought my room looked like, would say something like this: "Aphrodite? The goddess of love and beauty? I bet her room is pink. Sparkles, glitter, and ruffles everywhere."

Well, that isn't me. My room is a dark purple. My walls are covered with posters for movies and TV shows I like, and my bed is a purple princess bed with a canopy. There are white dressers, and a white flat-screen TV. It connects off to a giant, modern black bathroom.

I decided to give my children a visit. I hoped it would lift my spirits, although I knew they could be self-centered and mean. Beauty comes with a price. I apparated to the door of my cabin. I knocked, and my daughter, Drew, answered.

"Mother," she said in a high pitched voice. I flinched. "It's great to see you. You know, I've broken three boys' hearts this week!"

"Great, sweetie," I said, faking a smile. People judge me ALL the time. Since I'm the goddess of love and beauty, people expect that those are the only things I care about, and they think I'm shallow! So sometimes I give them what they want.

"What else did you do today?" I asked.

"I walked through the garden, and used my charmspeak on a bee. It stung a Hephaestus kid. Oops!" She grinned. I kept myself from sighing and forced a laugh, although it sickened me.

"Mother, I made my first boy fall in love with me! I think I like him, too," another one of the girls said.

"Well, what I did today was funner!" Drew remarked. "Now, leave us be," she said, using her charmspeak. Then she remembered I was here and put on her best behavior. "I mean, if you want."

"It's more fun," I corrected.

"What?" Drew asked.

"You said funner."

"Oh. Sorry, Mom," she said, but gave me a funny look.

"So, Drew, sweetie, anything interesting happen?"

"Well, mom, is there anything you could do to make Annabeth ugly? She won prettiest in the last three surveys given out! Her! Not me!" Drew said, like it was the most terrible thing in the world.

"Sorry, honey. I'm the goddess of beauty, not the goddess of removing beauty. I'm not going to take hers away." She huffed. I sighed.

When I got back to Mount Olympus later that day, Ares was waiting outside my mansion.

"Hey, sweetie," Ares said.

"Hello, Ares. What are you doing here?" I asked.

"Came to see my favorite girlfriend." I raised an eyebrow. It wasn't like I cared that much, but it was stupid of him to say that. "I mean, only girlfriend. At this moment. So…" he said pulling out a basket. "Picnic?"

 _ **The next chapter will be up soon! Please review! I can't promise that I will update often since I am also writing two other stories. Also, I made the poem below. Please do not steal it.**_

 _ **Roses are red**_

 _ **Violets are blue**_

 _ **I'd be ever so happy**_

 _ **If you'd review**_

 _ **It's not that hard**_

 _ **So don't just follow**_

 _ **Review what you think**_

 _ **And don't leave me in sorrow**_

 _ **~giraffesplaycello**_


	2. It's NOT Great Being Me

_**Thank you guys so much for all the reviews!**_

 _ **Aphrodite's Pov:**_

"Sure," I said, referring to his question about us having a picnic.

"Good," Ares replied, "because I got old Death Breath to get us a nice spot."

Five minutes later we were sitting on a hill in Elysium. It was beautiful. People were playing below. Kids. It made me happy, but I was so sad to know that all of these kids had died.

"Why is that a frown I see?" Ares asked. "I took you to Elysium for a picnic. It's awesome here!"

"Yeah, Ares, it's nice. It's just- All these kids died."

"Eh, they had it coming for them."

"Ares! That's not very nice. They all reached Elysium–"

"Exactly. So be quiet about it, won't you? You're kind of ruining this date for me."

"Ares!" I exclaimed, surprised.

"What? Honesty is the best policy, sweetie."

"Not that kind of honesty. That's just rude."

"What are you talking about? I'm not rude- well, I am, to some people, but not to you! We're the star couple, Love and War!"

I sighed. "Ares, I have to go home. Bye." I apparated to my front door and stormed inside. Of course, I had just gotten the war god angry, but I didn't care.

"Honey? That you?" Hephaestus asked from the living room. I had to live with him. Argh!

"Yes, sweetie. It's me. I was out." Well, that wasn't a lie. I didn't have the courage to tell him the whole truth, though.

"With that war scum again, I assume?"

"No."

"Sweetie, you can't lie to me. I have it recorded, and it was on Hephaestus TV. I liked the ending, though. Probably got lots of ratings."

Tears started welling up in my eyes. "I hate you!" I stormed upstairs like a teenage girl who was upset with her father. I collapsed on my bed. It was only three o' clock. I decided to write.

It was my secret. I knew of a mortal website. It was called fanfiction. Mortals write stories that are based off of other mortal's stories. I write off of Greek Mythology. It's a category in this site. Since no Olympians know I write this, I can write anything I want. No judgement! My username is BeautyHurtsAndLoveStings. The only thing is, I'm terrible at writing. I can read alright, I struggle, but I'm like a six year old in writing skill. My story was about all the Olympians, and their problems with each other. I clicked on Doc Manager and began typing.

 _Apollos Pov;_

 _My sister Arty and I are dooing an prank war. I desided that i shold make her pay four decorateing my chariot blak with stars and the moon. As that is her simbol, I am gooing to decorate her favoritte bowe with harts and make it pink also. I think she will hate it alot. Finaly, I will make it immpossible to get off. Tommorrow I am going to do it._

I posted the chapter. I know, I know, I'm not good. I decided to take a beauty rest. It was only 3:27!

I woke up at 4:16. I opened my laptop and saw that I had two more followers! I also had three reviews.

One was by GreekOlympiansEatPancakesInMyHouse. _You really need to get off this website and take some writing classes. This is TERRIBLE! (no offense or anything) This story sucks._

A silent tear rolled down my cheek. I never had to worry about my looks. In fact, I probably looked like a beautiful movie actress right now, even through my tears. Woohoo. Great being the goddess of love and beauty, (note the sarcasm).

I heard the doorbell ring downstairs. I hoped it wasn't Ares- Hephaestus was mean enough, and so was he.

"Go away! Didn't you anger her enough for one day? She wants to be alone!" I heard Hephaestus shout. I didn't know he cared for me that much, although I was mad at him, too. I could take care of myself.

I teleported downstairs and saw Ares and Hephaestus fighting.

"You aren't worthy of the goddess of Love and Beauty! Look at you! I am, though, look at me!"

"Please Ares, you don't care about her! You only care about her beauty! I see something inside of her! She's unique, and isn't so shallow as to date you!"

"You must have forgotten- she is dating me! The only reason she's married to you is because she had to!"

They continued to argue without knowing I was right next to them. "SILENCE!" I yelled. "Both of you are stupid, arrogant, and fools! You guys are _so_ annoying that you're making the goddess of love be sick of her husband and boyfriend! How _sad_ is that?"

"Babe," Ares started. "I love you. Hephaestus is just getting in the way and making you think that you don't love me!"

"Ares, I am the goddess of love and beauty! Do you really think me so weak that I can let a god make me think different of my own domain? No, Ares, I think it's you. I don't think you're worthy of love. Now, if you can excuse me, Hephaestus, Ares, I'm going to make _myself_ happy. I don't need a boy to do that."

"Sweetie-" Hephaestus countered.

"No." I stopped him. "I'm the goddess of love and beauty, but that's not all I am. I'm strong, and I don't need love or beauty to prove that. I'm going into hiding." And with that, I teleported to the one place they would never think to find me.

A small house. In a small house. I looked in the mirror of my temporary home and made my hair lose it's shine. My eyes didn't sparkle. I altered all of my features. I was a regular girl.

And tomorrow I was going to high school.

 ** _Please read my other stories._**

 _ **Roses are red**_

 _ **Violets are blue**_

 _ **I'd be ever so happy**_

 _ **If you'd review**_

 _ **It's not that hard**_

 _ **So don't just follow**_

 _ **Review what you think**_

 _ **And don't leave me in sorrow**_

 _ **~giraffesplaycello**_


	3. This Is Pretty Ordinary

_**Chapter 3: This Is Pretty Ordinary**_

 _ **Please review! :) Blue Pies for everyone who does, and a blue cookie! (#) (#) (#) (::) (::)**_

 _ **Aphrodite's Pov:**_

I walked through the doors of the school. Today was the first day of school, September 6th. Yesterday, I had used the mist to make it look like I had been registered before. I got a locker number, and made some stuff appear in my locker. I was an official eighth grader!

I looked at my schedule. I really should have looked at it last night. It took a while, and I figured I looked like an idiot just standing in the middle of the hall while other students streamed by, but I finally thought I read the name right. Homeroom: Mrs. Kalliotepie. Room: 13

I walked to room thirteen to find that I was the only one there beside the teacher. It was 7:37, and homeroom started at 7:45.

I opened my laptop (the school let us carry them around for our work online) and started typing another chapter of my fanfiction.

 _Artemis's Pov:_

 _To get back at me for pranking him, Apollo pranked me! He decorated my favorite bow pink with hearts! Boys!_

I wrote a little more, and then posted the chapter.

The bell rung. A girl with chocolate colored skin and brown hair jumped into the room. "Mrs. Kalliotepie!" She pronounced it as kay-low-tae-pie. "I made it on time!" She sat next to me.

"Hi! You're new here, right? I don't remember seeing you here before. My name's Rae."

"Cool. I'm Ava." Ava Hellerman was the name I'd registered in the school on.

"Nice. What do you have next period?"

"ELA with Mr. Dalie."

"Me too!"

"Please read quietly!" Mrs. Kalliotepie told us. I took out my book, Dork Diaries: Tales From A Not-So-Glam TV Star, and started reading. Soon the bell rang. I stood up and put my book in my bag.

"Come on!" Rae said. "I've heard rumors about Mr. Dalie. They say he's strict. Let's not get on his bad side." We walked to his classroom. We turned, and walked a little more ways. I saw a middle-aged man in a plaid shirt and jeans. He said hello, and we walked into his room.

Chairs were set up in a circle. Some seats were already taken up, and Rae and I found seats next to each other.

"So, what are you interested in?" I asked Rae.

"Well-" She started, but the bell rang. Mr. Dalie walked in the room and shut the door behind him. Two boys stopped it and took seats next to Rae in the circle. Mr. Dalie clapped twice. We clapped after him.

"We're going to all introduce ourselves. Now, I'm sure some of you know each other from previous years, and I know a few of you, but we will still do it, and you will be happy about it because that will mean we aren't doing work!" We cheered. "So I'm going to sit here," he sat in one of the empty seats, "And we are going to go around the circle and say our name, favorite animal and color, and two things you like doing. Me first. My name's Mr. Dalie. My favorite animal is an elephant, my favorite color is orange, and I like teaching and reading."

"My name's Kevin North. My favorite animal is an ocelot, my favorite color is green, and I like playing soccer and video games." A few other people went and then it was Rae's turn.

"My name's Rae Black, my favorite animal is a giraffe, my favorite color is red, and I like reading and playing sports."

It was my turn. "My name's Ava Hellerman, my favorite animal is a dove, my favorite color is purple, and I like reading and sewing."

The rest of the people went, and there was still five minutes left so Mr. Dalie let us talk amongst ourselves. I had math next, Rae had science. The bell rang and we went our separate ways.

 _ **Hopefully there will be a new chapter of "But What About Annabeth?" up soon.**_

 _ **Roses are red**_

 _ **Violets are blue**_

 _ **I'd be ever so happy**_

 _ **If you'd review**_

 _ **It's not that hard**_

 _ **So don't just follow**_

 _ **Review what you think**_

 _ **And don't leave me in sorrow**_

 _ **~giraffesplaycello**_


	4. Onto Aphrodite

_**Chapter 4: Onto Aphrodite**_

 _ **Sorry guys, this is probably going to be a short story. However, if I get an idea after, it will be longer.**_

 _ **Athena's Pov:**_

Aphrodite hadn't shown her face for two days. That wasn't normal for her. Regularly she pranced into the throne room with some new hairstyle or something and no one cared, but her absence of doing that made us all worry.

Zeus had gone to her house and knocked on the door. Aphrodite hadn't answered. So he used his powers to forcefully enter. She wasn't there. Zeus called a meeting in the throne room. Of course, everyone but Aphrodite showed.

When he reported that Aphrodite was missing, I looked around the room, looking in the other Olympians faces. I could easily tell if one was trying to hide something. I wasn't the goddess of wisdom for nothing.

I saw two suspicious people: Ares and Hephaestus. Of course they'd be involved. Two stupid boys.

"Ares and Hephaestus," I said. "Anything you want to say?"

"Well-" Hephaestus started.

"He got Aphrodite mad. She said I was way handsomer than him, and ugly here," Ares pointed his thumb towards Hephaestus, "got in the way of us."

"Ares, you're so bad at lying. Let's not lie here, okay? Anyway, we can use the projector." The projector was a device for the gods used to replay issues so we can solve them. However, we can only replay scenes that at least two other gods saw, so we can portray them right. That makes it a bit hard.

It showed Ares and Hephaestus fighting.

" _Go away! Didn't you anger her enough for one day? She wants to be alone!" Hephaestus shouted._

He was very angry, although I didn't think Hephaestus had the right to say that. Obviously he angered Aphrodite too.

 _Aphrodite materialized next to them. They didn't notice._

" _You aren't worthy of the goddess of love and beauty! Look at you! I am, though, look at me!"_

" _Please Ares, you don't care about her! You only care about her beauty! I see something inside of her! She's unique, and isn't so shallow as to date you!"_

" _You must have forgotten- she is dating me! The only reason she's married to you is because she had to!"_

" _SILENCE!" Aphrodite yelled._

She started going on about how she was independent, and that she didn't need boys. I never thought she was that strong. Then she said something that gave us all chills.

" _I'm going into hiding." And then she disappeared._

The projector turned off and there was a quietness in the air.

"We can use our power! I completely forgot about it until now!" _**(A/N: They can locate people- but the catch is that it has to be all twelve Olympians have to be present, or the location is not exact.)**_

We sat in a circle and chanted. "Aphrodite has gone away. Aphrodite has been missing for two days. We must find Aphrodite." In the middle of our circle a map of the world appeared. One by one, continents disappeared until there was one left: North America. Then countries started to disappear until only the USA was left.

"Of course, she wouldn't go too far from Olympus. She may even be in New York!" Zeus said. States had been disappearing. South Carolina, North Carolina, California, New York, Texas, Pennsylvania, and Tennessee were the only ones left. Finally, New York was revealed to be where Aphrodite was. They pointed out a county _**(A/N:This county is made up.)**_ called Haddenston.

Then the map was "drawn" on with a red sharpie. It circled four schools. We waited, but that was all the map could do since Aphrodite wasn't here with us. It couldn't be exact.

"Okay. So we will break up into five groups that I will organize. I will have responsible people with less responsible people so we can control them. However, we need to fit into different crowds, so each group will have one goddess and one god. Zeus and Ares, while we are doing this, you must stay here and rule Olympus. Who knows what will happen if none of the twelve Olympians are at Olympus?"

"Why don't we just send some demigods on a quest for this? That is normally what we do in these types of situations," Zeus said. But I knew we could do this. Who says Olympians can't be students at schools?

"We are more mature than that. Plus we can't mention to the demigods that we have lost control of love and beauty," I said. "Demeter can be with Hermes at the small elementary school. Dionysus and Poseidon with me at the middle school." The only reason I decided to put up with the annoying gods was because they had to be someone responsible. Someone like me. I continued, "Apollo and Artemis at the medium elementary school."

"Woohoo, sis!" Apollo shouted and linked arms with her.

"And Hera and Hephaestus at the high school." I knew it was dangerous putting Hera and Hephaestus together, but it had to be done. "Don't forget guys, we need to fit in! My name will be Abby Gray. I will approve of your names, now."

"Hey, why do you get to be in charge?" Poseidon complained.

"Because I am the goddess of wisdom and strategy." I replied. "Your name?"

"I guess Phillip Jackson, taking the last name from the, uh, savior of Olympus. My _son._ "

"I approve of the name, Poseidon, but do you think it is wise to brag about Percy next to me? Percy would have fallen apart without my Annabeth. Now, let's move on. Names?"

"Dionysius can be named Wine Dude," offered Hermes.

"Haha. Very funny."

"For your information, Hermes, I'm being Castor Roberts, in honor of my son who died in the war," Dionysius shot back. There was a moment of silence.

"Well, I'm being Dawn Price," Demeter said, breaking the silence. We got it worked out. Hermes was to be Henry Foster. Artemis was to be Alex Bennett. And on Apollo's request, he was to be Ace Bennett. Hera was Hope Taylor, and Hephaestus was Harry Clark. We all removed our glow, altered our appearances so Aphrodite wouldn't recognize us, manipulated the mist to register ourselves into our schools, and left Olympus in search of Aphrodite.

 _ **Questions? Say them in a review or a PM!**_

 _ **Roses are red**_

 _ **Violets are blue**_

 _ **I'd be ever so happy**_

 _ **If you'd review**_

 _ **It's not that hard**_

 _ **So don't just follow**_

 _ **Review what you think**_

 _ **And don't leave me in sorrow**_

 _ **~giraffesplaycello**_


	5. Regular Eighth Grader

_**Chapter 5: Regular Eighth Grader**_

 _ **Aphrodite's Pov:**_

It was the third day of school. I woke up happy. I checked my fanfiction. I had gotten two more reviews. Another one by _GreekOlympiansEatPancakesInMyHouse._

 _You've really improved. Keep up the good work!_

I smiled. Apparently I was smart when I was mortal and wasn't as pretty. I was good at reading and writing. I wouldn't mind staying like this.

I got to school and met with my friends. I had gotten a good group of friends in the three days I've been at school. I was part of the "smart" group now. It was fun being smart. People asked for your help, and you felt nice because they trusted you.

"There's three new kids. One's really smart, but the others sound like goofballs. We could always use new additions to our group, though, so no judging," Kayla had said earlier in the morning.

"Ava!" Mrs. Kalliotepie said, shocking me out of my thoughts. "You are kind of new here. How are you liking school?"

"It's great, Mrs. Kalliotepie," I replied.

"Would you mind showing Phillip around?" she asked.

"Sure!" I replied, smiling at the boy with blue eyes and black hair. _**(A/N: They had to change some of their features. Dionysius is tall with brown hair and green eyes. Athena has her grey/blue eyes with blonde hair.)**_

"So your name's Ava?" Phillip asked after sitting next to me.

"Yeah. Ava Hellerman. Yours?"

"Phillip Jackson."

"And Rae Key." Rae had sat next to us.

"What do you like most about school here?" Phillip asked.

"I like the people," Rae responded.

"I like the freedom," I said.

"What freedom?" Rae joked.

"You know, people don't really judge here," I explained.

"Flyers up front!" Mrs. Kalliotepie announced. Phillip, Rae, and I all started to get up.

"I'll get flyers for you both," I said. They sat back down. I walked to the front of the classroom where bright pink fliers were in a big stack. I counted three, and tried to read the flyer on the way back from the front. It was for a homecoming dance! I was going to a mortals' dance! I tripped over a book lying in the aisle and fell, face first right next to Rae's shoe.

"Woah, Ava alert," Rae laughed and offered her hand. I used her hand to stand up and brushed off my crimson jeans. I had decided, since the gods might be onto me, to not really be beautiful, just sort of pretty, but nobody ever said that meant I couldn't have good fashion sense.

Today I was wearing crimson colored jeans with black flats. My shirt was flower-printed, and flowy with a long back. My dirty blonde hair was pulled back in a loose french braid that came just lower than my shoulders, and was also pulled back with a plain copper headband.

After sitting down, I looked at Rae. She had a natural beauty that any goddess of love could appreciate, and had a stellar fashion sense. Her chocolate colored skin went good with the thin red lipgloss, and her hazel eyes were brought out by the subtle gold eyeshadow. Part of her hair was pulled into a braid around her head, while the other part hung down, wavy and full. She wore brown boots with a tiny bit of a heel, and leggings that were a black and off-white pattern. Rae was wearing a loose red shirt and a silver necklace with a feather, and to top it off she had a black leather jacket that wasn't zippered.

"Where do you guys go for first period?" Phillip asked.

"English," Rae and I responded in usion.

"Awe man, I go to gym."

"Hey, that's cool. We're doing a teamwork unit." Phillip crinkled his nose.

"Yeah, is-" the bell rang. "I need to find the gym. See you guys later!" Phillip said as he walked out the door.

Rae and I took our time to walk to English. She had to go to her locker first, so by the time we got there almost everyone was seated. After sitting down, I noticed a new girl with blue eyes and blonde hair. She was wearing red vans, blue jeans, and a black t-shirt that said. "I fight like a girl? Thanks."

The bell rang and Mr. Dalie closed the door. "We have a new student, class! I'll let you introduce yourself. Feel free to stand up in the front of the classroom." A boy, Joe (I think), stood up. "I meant Abby," Mr. Dalie said. Joe sat back down.

Abby stood in the front of the classroom. "Hi, my name's Abby Grey, I like reading a writing a lot, and I moved here from NYC.

"She's kinda hot," one of the boys whispered to his friend.

"And you're kinda not," she replied smoothly and sat back down. I'm beginning to like school more and more everyday. I knew I shouldn't be this happy about a girl insulting a boy when they could be in love, but I have sense. I'm not the stereotypical Aphrodite anymore.

I'm Aphrodite, AKA Ava Hellerman. Regular eighth grader.

 _ **I hope you guys liked that chapter! Please review and read my other story, "But What About Annabeth?"**_

 _ **Roses are red**_

 _ **Violets are blue**_

 _ **I'd be ever so happy**_

 _ **If you'd review**_

 _ **It's not that hard**_

 _ **So don't just follow**_

 _ **Review what you think**_

 _ **And don't leave me in sorrow**_

 _ **~giraffesplaycello**_

 _ **One day I might write,**_

 _ **But again, I might not,**_

 _ **Only with reviews, come on, I don't bite!**_

 _ **I don't think they need to be bought,**_

 _ **This is your formal invite!**_

 _ **So review or else you are SNOT!**_

 _ **~giraffesplaycello**_

 _ **(Just kidding, you aren't snot. If you are reading this you are a lovely, amazing person.)**_


	6. New Kids

_**Chapter 6: New Kids**_

 _ **Guys, this story is going to pretty short I assume. Maybe 10,000 at most. ALSO: I made a typo in a chapter, when I said Rae's name is Rae Key. The other chapter is correct. Her name is Rae Black, like Sirius Black.**_

 _ **Aphrodite's Pov:**_

Lunch that day was… interesting. Two of the new kids sat with us. Abby and Phillip, and although I liked them both, it was weird. It was like they already knew each other before they came to the school. Like they had some history, and it was bad.

Being the goddess of love and beauty, I knew they hadn't broken up after dating or anything; it was more like they both thought they were superior after something happened.

"This has hairs in it," Phillip said, looking closely at the taco meat. He sniffed it. "I'm not sure this is meat as much as it is poop." I gagged.

"Well," I said, standing up. "I think that's all I will eat of this."

"Same here," said Abby. We walked to the trash bin and threw out our lunches, then stacked our trays. "Boys can be so gross sometimes," she said, walking back to the table with me.

"Yeah, and they're obsessed with the weirdest of things," I replied. I didn't mention that I thought it was cute. That was my goddess side kicking in, and I just had to kick it back.

As we neared the table, I saw Kayla, a friend of mine, sitting at the table, smiling rigidly at something Phillip was explaining to her. I felt bad for her sometimes, I knew she was bullied by some people and all Kayla wanted was friends. She would be nice to ANYONE if it meant she would have someone to be close to, and that theory of mine was proven when I found out that what Phillip was telling her was just interesting facts about sharks.

Once we got back, Phillip looked at me and started to obviously flirt, and I have to admit, I was startled. For one, I wasn't a goddess. I wasn't… beautiful. If he liked me, it was for my personality, and I wasn't used to that.

"Do you like swimming?" Phillip asked me. Okay, maybe it wasn't _obvious_ flirting, but I'm the goddess of love and beauty, so to me it was obvious.

"Not where there are sharks," I replied, giving him a look.

"Are you kidding? They're amazing!" he said in shock.

"Okay, well you can go swimming with sharks and after you get your legs bitten off, you can tell me how _fascinating_ it was. I bet you'll get tons of chicks," I said sarcastically, giving him a thumbs up.

Phillip smiled, and dimples were revealed. His eyes took on a greenish tint, and for a moment I was startled to how much he looked like the mortal hero, Percy Jackson. "Well, maybe when you visit me in the hospital, you know after I get my legs bitten off, boys will see how _caring_ you are and I'll have to chase them away, legless and all." I smiled back at him.

"What's up?" Rae sat down next to me with her lunch tray.

"Nothing much," I replied.

"Doesn't that food look more like-" Phillip started. I reached over the table quickly and slapped my hand over his mouth.

"Don't you start," I said, flicking my pointer finger at him. "At least one of us has to eat."

"I think I'm wise to not ask," Rae smiled at me.

Abby shook her head sternly. "No one is wise by not asking questions," she said. That was… weird. I looked at her, confused. She was acting although she was better than all of us. There was an awkward silence before Kayla broke it.

"Well, trust me, you do NOT want to hear what he was saying," she joked awkwardly. Abby broke a smile, though it was obviously forced, and looked down at the book she had started reading.

 _ **LINESKIPLINESKIPLINESKIPLINESKIPLINESKIPLINESKIP**_

When I got to my temporary mortal home, it was late. Rae and I had gone to Starbucks and hung out there for a while, chatting and doing homework. It was now 10:07 PM. I brushed my teeth, and drifted into a calm sleep.

I woke up the next morning with severe bedhead. I missed my days as a goddess for that reason, but not that much. I showered, ate breakfast, and I donned a plain white tank top and a light blue cardigan that hung loosely around my torso. My hair was put into a messy bun and a plain brown headband. I wore dangly earrings. I added black leggings and flats, and ran out the door with my school stuff.

I walked into homeroom early, like usual. Phillip was already there, and I put my bag down on the chair next to him and sat on the desk.

"What's up?" I asked.

"I'm kind of feeling… bummed today, I don't know. Silly, I guess. I don't have any reason for it."

"I think I might know something that will cheer you up. Do you like writing?" I asked him, pulling out my laptop.

"Yes, if it's about the right things," he replied shrugging.

"Well, there's this website- fanfiction. net, and you can write off of books or movies or myths, and other people read your stories. You can also read theirs."

"Cool, do you write about anything?"

"Yeah, but I'm not good. I write off of Greek Mythology." I blushed. I didn't want him to see my writing.

"Can I see it?" he asked.

"Ummm, it's private," I said quickly.

"Okay," he adjusted. "Can I see the website?" he asked looking up into my eyes. He tilted his head ever so slightly.

"Sure," I said. I was an _expert_ on boys.

"You wanna go out sometime?" I froze. Phillip was asking me out.

"Sure!" I replied.

"How about tomorrow? I'll pick you up at seven?"

"Sounds good!" I replied. I was REALLY happy. I kne

Rae chose that moment to walk in. She looked fabulous. Her dark brown hair was parted three times, making three french braids down her head, all winding into another braid. She wore a short pink dress with tights and black flats. She made it look so good, and for the first time ever, I felt ugly. I had become this… mortal. I had changed my beautiful features, and this boy liked me anyway, but what if he liked Rae more?

 _ **LINESKIPLINESKIPLINESKIPLINESKIPLINESKIPLINESKIP**_

 _ **(A/N: That was a Friday, and now it is Friday night. Ava and Phillip are going on a date Saturday at 7. Right now Ava and Rae are having a sleepover at Rae's house, and Rae doesn't know Phillip asked Ava out.)**_

Rae and I sat on her bed. We had been playing "kiss, marry, kill," for a while now, and it was getting boring.

"What about truth or dare?" I suggested.

"I don't know…" She replied. "I'll play, but only if we can decline dares, and it can't leave my room."

I nodded. "Good with me," I said and held out my hand playfully. She shook it. "I'll ask you first," I said. "Truth or dare?"

"Dare. I'm a rebel."

"Lick the floor." She groaned and stared at the floor.

"But I haven't cleaned it in forever!" she complained. I stared at her asking with my eyes, "what can you do?"

She got down on the floor, touched her tongue to it, and stood back up with an evil glint in her eyes. "Truth or dare?"

"Dare." I said instantly.

"Lick the floor!" I laughed and did it.

"Now," I said. "Truth or dare?"

"Truth."

"Who do you like?"

She looked down at the floor, blushing. "Phillip.

 _ **Roses are red**_

 _ **Violets are blue**_

 _ **I'd be ever so happy**_

 _ **If you'd review**_

 _ **It's not that hard**_

 _ **So don't just follow**_

 _ **Review what you think**_

 _ **And don't leave me in sorrow**_

 _ **~giraffesplaycello**_


	7. Frienemies

_**Chapter 7: Frienemies**_

 _ **Aphrodite's Pov:**_

" _Who do you like?"_

 _She looked down at the floor, blushing. "Phillip._

"Ph- Phillip? Really?" I asked, startled. "Uh, that's um…" I didn't know what to say.

"Yeah, he's really handsome and funny, and I really like him," she said with a sparkle in her eye. "So anyway, truth or dare?" she asked. I knew that if I said truth she would ask me who my crush was, so I decided to say dare.

"Dare," I said.

"Okay, I DARE you to answer this question," she smiled. "Who do you like? Remember, NO lying."

"Are you sure you don't want me to lie?" I grimaced. Her eyes widened.

"NO WAY! Do you have a crush on Phillip, too?" I shrugged, scratching my back.

"Well then, we'll just have to see who he likes. No hard feelings, no matter what?" She asked and held out her hand for me to shake. I nodded and shook it.

"He's already asked me out," I said quickly.

"WHAT?" Rae exclaimed. "He- he asked you out? Like, a date?" I nodded. "Why didn't you tell me?" she asked.

"I guess it never came up. I like him, Rae," I said. I knew it was kind of selfish, but I was the goddess of love, and as mean as it sounds, I wasn't going to let a mortal have this.

"It's fine. I mean, he likes you. Not me. I just have to deal with it, I guess. Like we said, no hard feelings." She shrugged, trying to play it off. I could see the tears brewing in her eyes, even though she was trying to hide them.

I had to give my friend credit.

"You wanna go to sleep?" she asked. I nodded after looking at the clock. It was eleven forty-seven. "Goodnight," she yawned.

"Night," I replied.

I woke up and had to pee. I really didn't want to get up, so I just sat on the couch for a few minutes. Finally I couldn't wait any longer. I got up and went to the bathroom, which was two doors away.

The light was off, and I stumbled around for a minute before finding the light switch. It was then when I saw it.

A black leather notebook. I opened it, still standing up despite the need for me to pee. I flipped open to the first page, where it said _Property of Rae Black_. I didn't read it, I swear. At least, I didn't read it for a few minutes, not until after I peed.

 _9/6/16:_

 _Today I met a new girl named Ava. She's pretty, and has a good attitude. She's nice, and it's not everyday you find someone like that. I hung out with her a little, and by the end of the day I had already gotten two boys asking me if she was single. I'm single! Why does no one want to date me?_

 _9/9/16:_

 _There's also a new boy named Phillip. He's really, really cute. I have a crush on him._

 _9/15/16:_

 _I think Phillip might have a crush on someone else. I keep hinting that I like him, but he's so oblivious! I swear, If it's Ava, I'm going to die. I'm really getting tired of her._

 _9/23/16:_

 _Abby's also new, and she's such a know-it-all. She keeps throwing insults at Phillip, why? Does she have a crush on him that she's trying to cover up?_

 _10/2/16:_

I caught my breath. This was today. Rae had wrote about today.

 _Ava slept over. I hate her so much! It turns out her and Phillip are dating. They're not good together! He's my crush! I'm just going to do something to show that to him._

That. Little. Brat. She was going to try to pull something! I swear, if she messed up our date…

I took a deep breath. 'You are a goddess,' I reminded myself. No mortal girl could outdo me. No one was more beautiful than me, even that stupid girl Psyche back in the day.

I took another deep breath and was about to put the diary down when I heard a voice.

"What the heck are you doing?" Rae growled.

 _ **Roses are red**_

 _ **Violets are blue**_

 _ **I'd be ever so happy**_

 _ **If you'd review**_

 _ **It's not that hard**_

 _ **So don't just follow**_

 _ **Review what you think**_

 _ **And don't leave me in sorrow**_

 _ **~giraffesplaycello**_


	8. Love And Hate

_**Chapter 8: Love And Hate**_

 _ **I realized something tragic today. Aphrodite never felt real love. With Ares? It's just play. With Hephaestus? No way.**_

 _ **Aphrodite's Pov:**_

 _I took another deep breath and was about to put the diary down when I heard a voice._

" _What the heck are you doing?" Rae growled._

My eyes widened and I quickly put the diary on the counter. "This book was on the floor, so, um, I picked it up," I lied.

"Please," she seethed. "You read it! I thought we were friends!"

"That's not what THIS says," I replied smoothly, picking up the diary.

"Get. Out. Of. My. House," she said through her teeth, and as much as I tried to ignore it, I saw tears in her eyes.

I stormed out of the house and ran for a few minutes. Then I teleported back to the small house I lived in. I paced, walking back and forth on the shiny floorboards, running my fingers through my hair. I did this for a while, a whole five minutes, and then I realized it was five in the morning, and I had a date today. So I decided to go to sleep.

6:30 PM. That's what time I woke up, and I had a date at seven.

I combed through my hair and put it up in a messy bun, letting pieces fall in front of my face. I put on a short pink dress that was made of a thick material and curved around my hips. I wore matching pink spandex and white vans. I was hoping to get some comments.

After brushing my teeth, I then moved onto makeup. I didn't have any pimples, heavens no, but I still shaded my face. I put on winged eyeliner with pink eyeshadow and light pink lipstick. The doorbell rang.

I rushed down the stairs after grabbing a white purse with some necessities in it. Phillip was waiting for me, and he looked good.

"Woah, Ava," he said smiling."You look pretty." It wasn't the highest of compliments, but I'd accept it. I let myself blush even though I didn't need to.

"Thanks, Phillip. You look handsome." He offered his hand, and I took it. "Where are we going?" I asked.

"It's a surprise," he said throwing a cocky grin at me. It would have normally made a girl's heart flutter, but I couldn't be surprised anymore. We were in a jeep, a blue one. He looked like it was an ordinary thing to drive it, but if I had been paying closer attention I would have realized that he was only an eighth grader―he shouldn't know how to drive a car.

We went to a glassblowing place first,and he gave me a present. "I made this earlier for you," he said. "I couldn't get it any sooner." I opened it to find a lovely vase. It was able to hang from a wall and was small, only able to hold one or two flowers. Phillip then handed me a rose.

After that we went to the movies. He voted for an action movie, but as soon as I said romantic comedy he gave in.

The movie was pretty ordinary up to a certain point. I'd seen the plot line a thousand times (What, you can't do much on Olympus; it's boring.) but my heart still fluttered when the man realized he loved the girl. At that moment Phillip tapped my arm and I looked over to him. He put his hands on either side of my face and we kissed.

And I have to admit, I did want to yell 'Really? Right now? It's the best part of the movie!' But I let it go.

Being a mortal really does have its upsides.

Phillip dropped me off at my house and made no questions. I knew there was a part of a relationship that involved the couple to meet each other's parents, and I was glad that we weren't at that part because it would be kind of hard to explain on my part.

I felt like there was something wrong, though. I didn't know why, everyone was right for me! I'm everyone's type! Maybe I was just used to dating Ares? Maybe this is actually what it's like to be loved for who I am?

But, no. I remembered one mortal―Tristan McLean. He didn't know I was a goddess, but he loved _me for me!_

What had he said? That I wasn't the stereotypical girl that was down-to-earth. It was like my head was in the clouds, and he liked that. He had said that there were the moments of clarity with me, and that's one reason why he loved me so much.

Phillip? He was different. I knew love, and I thought this was it.

Just―a different kind of love. A new love.

 _ **Roses are red**_

 _ **Violets are blue**_

 _ **I'd be ever so happy**_

 _ **If you'd review**_

 _ **It's not that hard**_

 _ **So don't just follow**_

 _ **Review what you think**_

 _ **And don't leave me in sorrow**_

 _ **~giraffesplaycello**_


End file.
